Miso Recipes

We hosted a 5-course formal dinner last night, and for the main entree, I served a duo of filet mignon and pan-seared seabass. I previously marinated the sea bass in a combination of miso paste, lime juice, cumin, cayenne pepper and turmeric.

Seabass is such a delicate and exquisite fish that you don't need to do anything extra. Just make sure to form an outer crust while pan-searing the fish and complete the cooking in the oven. It's as simple as that!

The spicy paste in this coconut udon soup provides not only the kick, but also most of the flavor. It's made of miso paste, a lot of red Thai chiles, Thai basil, sesame and garlic. The rest of the preparation is very basic. A mix of Asian vegetables such as straw mushrooms, sweet baby corn and bok choy are boiled in vegetable broth. At the last minute, fried tofu, pre-cooked fresh udon noodles and coconut milk are added to complete the tasty soup.

The temperature is finally dropping in the Bay Area, which makes hot soup so soothing!

The weather is getting cold and damp, so I thought a cioppino-style soup was a good solution to fight the low temperatures we've been having. I didn't really make the authentic San Franciscan fish stew, nor the traditional Provençal version of bouillabaisse, but a more Asian adaptation of the seafood soup using ingredients I recently received from our friends at AsianFoodGrocer.com. The major change is that I made the broth using bonito flakes, Asian mushrooms and miso paste. Otherwise, the seafood soup is cooked with the more common ingredients such as fresh tomatoes, corn, fish and shellfish and flavored with fennel, mushrooms, garlic, lime peel, dill and saffron.

I also cracked one separately cooked Dungeness crab and gathered the meat at the last minute to add to the bass fillets, mussels, clams and small shrimp already cooking in the soup. I served it just the way I would bouillabaisse (the Southern-French stew originated in Marseille) with garlic bread and rouille sauce, which is a saffron-flavored mayonnaise. To bouillabaisse purists, the addition of bonito flakes and miso paste may seem sacrilegious, but I think it was a refreshing twist with an Asian flair.

If you’re considering making this dish, I have some good news: our friend Gustavo from AsianFoodGrocer.com is kindly giving away a $50 gift card that you can win this week on Pham Fatale! The deadline is Sunday, October 16th, 2011. And for those of you who can't wait to try AsianFoodGrocer.com products, head over to their online store, enter coupon code PHAMFATALE during checkout (exclusively for Pham Fatale readers) and get 10% off your entire order; the coupon expires on October 22nd, 2011 so make the most of it!

We hosted a dinner party this evening. I served a surf and turf main dish composed of a steak and sea bass. I really wanted to find a decadent, over the top kind of fish for this special evening. Sea bass seemed like the perfect choice; it's a lean fish with a meaty texture and a rich, buttery taste. I glazed the fish with hoisin and miso. The firm white fish pairs very well with the sweet and salty glaze. I quickly seared the fish on top of the stove to create a caramelized crust around the fish and finished roasting it in the oven.

This dish took me down memory lane, back to when Lulu and I were preparing for our wedding reception. I remember this particular hoisin glaze was one of the options we selected.

We finally made it to Ashland, Oregon. The place we're staying at is fantastic and has a large barbecue grill. I decided to take advantage of it and grill fresh corn while the family was having fun in the swimming pool.

Instead of seasoning the corn with regular salt, I used white miso paste, which is a fermented rice and soybean combination. I chose white miso paste which is fermented for only a few weeks, as opposed to regular miso which is fermented for several months. I find the flavor to be less salty, with a subtle sweetness. Of course, if you don't have miso paste on hand, you could always use regular salt, but what would be the fun in that?